Odds and Ends
by Lynyrd Lionheart
Summary: My various one shots that I post to Tumblr. Number 12: Stefan realizes he's fallen in love with Caroline.
1. A Thousand Years

**AN: So, these are the drabbles I have posted on my lynyrdwrites tumblr at one point or another, and now they'll be posted here as well. No regular updates, just stories posted when I'm hit by fancy. Some may be connected, most aren't. I will always let you know in the author's note. **

**A Thousand Years**

She had been his sunshine girl when they were humans. The beauty who had befriended his sister, and stood loyally by his side, even when he had taken her for granted and pined for Tatia like a foolish child.

When they became vampires, she had been the only one able to tame the monster within him, to keep him from slaughtering everyone with a pulse.

Thinking to keep his sunshine girl with him for eternity, he had turned her, and she had turned away from him in fear and disgust upon awakening, refusing to drink and finish the transition.

He had forced the blood down her throat.

She had claimed she would hate him for all eternity.

That night, he went on a murderous rampage. The next day, he killed his mother for binding away his werewolf gene.

By the time this had all occurred, she was already gone, determined to find a way to live with being a monster as far away from him as she could possibly get.

Creating the legend of the moon stone had been done for two reasons. One was the most obvious; Niklaus wanted to be a hybrid again, a state he had only enjoyed for a few short hours before it was taken from him. The second was a reason he told no one, not even his brother Elijah. He hoped, that if Caroline heard that Niklaus was seeking the moon stone, it might draw her out of wherever she had spent the last five centuries hiding, if for no other reason than to stop him out of spite.

Klaus was sure she would never succeed, of course, but he missed his sunshine girl, and he wanted her back.

But Caroline either never heard of the moon stone, or she didn't care enough to come out of hiding. And in the end, Katerina escaped Klaus' reach, though he took his revenge by slaughtering her family. Once finished, he was left to lick his wounded pride in private and regret that neither of his goals had been met.

With the doppleganger now a vampire and useless to Klaus, he turned his attention instead to the pursuit of his sunshine girl. Caroline hid well, but Niklaus almost caught her once, in the late 1800s. She had been spotted in London, and to London Klaus had went, intent on once again having Caroline at his side, only to discover upon his arrival that she had fled the city the previous night.

Klaus' brother, Kol, had forewarned her of his approach. For the betrayal, Kol received a dagger to the heart, putting him into stasis until Klaus decided he had suffered long enough.

And so it was that for a thousand years, Niklaus searched for Caroline, his beloved sunshine girl, never finding her until lucky chance brought them together once more in Mystic Falls.

And chance also brought him a new doppleganger.

DRABBLE

It had been surprisingly easy for Caroline to insinuate herself into the everyday life of Mystic Falls. With her youthful appearance and bubbly personality, she had easily taken to the role of high school cheerleader and all around over achiever.

Caroline had always felt that if you were going to do something, you had best do it right.

There had been a brief moment of turbulence when the Salvatore brothers had made their appearance, but Caroline had managed to sell herself as a newly turned vampire, the reason for her move to Mystic Falls. Stefan and Damon had only seen the mask she wore for everyone else, not the truth, and had easily bought her story. She wondered how they would have reacted if they had known that only the original vampires themselves were older than she was.

It would have been amusing, but far too dangerous. Caroline had never been into self-endangerment. If she had, she would have come out of hiding five centuries ago to put an end to Niklaus' hybrid dreams. Luckily for her, Katerina Petrova and proved to be self-sufficient and had saved her own skin. It had shown Caroline that while Katerina might share Tatia's love of playing brothers against one another, she was certainly smarter than the original doppleganger had ever hoped to be.

It had turned out to be an irritant to Caroline, in fact. Elijah had been surprisingly chatty with the pretty doppleganger, and Katerina knew of Caroline. Or, she at least knew that there was a female vampire that Klaus had been chasing after almost as desperately as he had the Petrova doppleganger and the moonstone. There had been moments when Caroline had thought Katerina might almost suspect something. A look in her eyes, that seemed suspicious, but the brunette had been too busy playing with the Salvatore brothers and Elena Gilbert, the latest _living_ doppleganger, to actively investigate any flaws she might see in Caroline's cover.

So, Caroline had continued on with life. She had played the part of baby vampire, helped Tyler Lockwood survive his first transition to werewolf, and been loyal friend to Elena in the crusade against Katerina. Then, the undead doppleganger had dropped her bomb.

Elijah knew Elena existed. That meant that Niklaus did as well.

And so, Caroline's carefully crafted illusion of safety in Mystic Falls came crashing down around her.

DRABBLE

Surprised was a mild word for what Elijah felt when he saw Caroline again for the first time in a thousand years. He had believed he was meeting the latest doppleganger and Damon Salvatore in order to make a deal that would be beneficial to both parties, but the addition of the blonde his brother had loved and chased for so long left Elijah nothing short of gobsmacked.

"Hello, Elijah," Caroline said, as if mere days and not centuries separated this meeting and their last. "It's been a while."

Elijah regained his senses enough to notice that Damon was shooting Caroline irritated, suspicious looks, and it caused him to raise his brows.

"I'm surprised, Caroline. I never took you as one to keep company with those who find you untrustworthy. It was one of the things that drew my brother to you. Your dislike of untruths."

"It's been a thousand years, Elijah, and I've spent it running. People change," Caroline replied bluntly. "And Damon has reason to be distrustful. He's only recently discovered that I'm… a little older than I first said I was."

Damon snorted and muttered something about understatements, but Elijah ignored him in favour of carefully inspecting Caroline. People changed, but Elijah didn't even have to speak with Caroline to know that she hadn't changed as much as she would have him believe. She was still Caroline, Niklaus' sunshine girl.

"If you hadn't run, perhaps we wouldn't be standing here right now. You were always the only one to control him, Caroline."

Caroline turned her gaze from Elijah, and Damon and Elena both looked at her, Damon angry, Elena confused.

"What does he mean, Caroline?" Elena asked, and Elijah was reminded so very strongly of the Katerina he had known and fallen in the love with, the one who had been so very innocent before Niklaus had caused her such pain.

"They don't know of your history with Niklaus?" Elijah asked surprised. "That he's loved and searched for you for a thousand years."

"He didn't love me," Caroline snarled. "If he had, he would never have forced that blood down my throat. Besides… we never even kissed."

At those words, a longing distance entered Caroline's eyes, and it was as if Elijah had been transported back a thousand years, watching Caroline watch Niklaus as he broke her heart by pursuing Tatia. It had been a foolish infatuation for Niklaus. In the end, it had always been Caroline. _Would_ always be Caroline.

"Besides," Caroline continued, snapping Elijah back to the present. "It wasn't my role to forever be Nik's keeper. It was my role to live my life and die a human. He stole that from me."

"A millennium, and you still hold a grudge for that?" Elijah asked.

"It's not just for that, Elijah. It's for Kol, too. He was just being a friend, and Nik daggered him for it." Caroline looked down at her hands. "I heard that he daggered Rebecca, too, about ninety years ago. What did she do to deserve that?"

"She fell in love and was going to leave," Elijah replied, carefully avoiding looking at Damon, whose brother, Stefan, was the one Rebekah had fallen for. "Niklaus dislikes anything he views as betrayal. It became even worse when you fled."

"I'll not feel guilty for that, Elijah. I did what I felt I had to. That's the end of it. Besides, this talk of the past is useless. If your plan succeeds, then what I felt for Nik and what he felt for me will no longer matter. He'll be dead."

"Are you okay with that?" Elijah asked, eyeing Caroline carefully. She above all others was most dangerous to this plan. Should she choose to betray them, to return to Niklaus, she would ruin everything, and she was just as old as Elijah. She would not be easily killed, even if he could bring himself to kill her.

Elijah felt almost ill to his stomach when Caroline's response was to look out the window and mutter a weak "yes."

DRABBLE

Elijah had known that Caroline wouldn't be able to let him kill Niklaus. He had known but hoped otherwise. Niklaus had daggered everyone Elijah loved, and Elijah could muster enough hate to kill him, but killing Caroline was going to break his heart. Once, a hundred lifetimes ago when they were all human, Elijah had felt Caroline was his sister, had hoped Niklaus would someday make the title official. Now he held a stake above her heart, ready to kill her as she glared back at him defiantly.

"They're not dead," Niklaus croaked out from where he was in werewolf transition several feet away. That caused Elijah to freeze, the stake in mid-air, and Caroline to turn her head to stare at Klaus in surprise.

"What?" Caroline was the first to recover her voice, and it was incredulous. "Who?"

"Kol, Finn, Rebekah. They're not dead. Don't kill her. Let me finish this, let her live, and I'll take you to them."

Elijah stared at his brother, who stared back at him. Niklaus' eyes were pleading him, begging him not to kill the girl he had loved for so very long. Elijah, who had barely had the heart to harm Caroline even before being offered such a tempting reason to let her be, released her.

"Elijah, no!" Stefan roared.

"You traitorous bitch!" was Damon's shout at Caroline. Caroline looked at the Salvatore brothers, her expression full of regret. She regretted that Jenna had to die, but she couldn't allow Niklaus to die as well. Caroline had tried to hold onto her hatred for a thousand years, but the fact was that when she transitioned, her love for him had strengthened. She could pretend to hate him while he existed, but to exist in a world where he wasn't?

It was beyond Caroline's scope.

She gave one last look at Elena's corpse, taking comfort from the fact that at least her friend would come out of this alive, so long as John Gilbert's plan worked, then she took off after Elijah, who was carrying the transitioning Klaus to safety.

The next three days were spent following after Niklaus and cleaning up his mess.

"Do you really expect him to forgive you your betrayal?" Caroline asked Elijah on the third night. "To forgive _both_ of us?"

"He begged with me to spare you, so I imagine you are safe. As for me…" Elijah shrugged. "I suppose I'll have to hope for the best."

"The best" turned out to be a dagger to the heart, and Caroline was distraught.

"How could you?" she shrieked at him angrily, not even caring that Stefan and Katerina were present.

"He betrayed me, love. I had no choice," Klaus replied blithely, dusting his hands off.

"You daggered everyone that matters to him. What did you expect, Nik? Everyone has their breaking point."

"They do indeed," Klaus agreed, and suddenly he was in front of Caroline, his hand around her throat. "So very lovely. So very traitorous. I should kill you, Caroline. I should kill you for the thousand years you spent running from me. For planning to kill me. Give me a reason not to?"

"If you kill me, then that's it. I'm no longer in this world." Caroline's gaze was defiant. "That's the reason _I _couldn't kill you. Because hating you while you exist is possible, but living when you don't? I couldn't stand it. So here it is, Nik. The moment of truth. Elijah thinks you love me. I doubt it. Which is it?"

Nik released her throat and paced away from her.

"What is that you want?" he snapped at Stefan, trying to ignore Caroline.

"Damon's been bit. I hear you have the cure."

Klaus scoffed.

"I do. You can't have it. Go away."

"Wait, Niklaus," Caroline's grip was soft on his arm. "Damon was my friend. I know that may not matter to you, but please, for me, give him the cure."

"And what do I get in return, love?" Niklaus asked, turning to Caroline. His gaze was still angry, but it was also hungry, and Caroline knew exactly what she had to bargain with.

"Me. No more running, no more hiding, no more tricks. I'll stay with you until you don't want me anymore. Just give Stefan the cure. Whatever it is."

Klaus glared at Caroline, then snapped at Katerina.

"Katerina, come here."

Katerina did as she was told, and Klaus bit into her wrist. Stefan and Caroline both began to protest, but Klaus wasn't finished. He then bit into his own wrist, pressing it to Katerina's lips. Within moments, the bite was gone, as if it had never existed.

"My blood is the cure. Now I have to decide if you're worth it."

"Up to you. But if you don't take this deal, then first chance I get, I'm gone again. A thousand years since you last saw me, Niklaus. Shall we make it a thousand more?"

Klaus slashed his wrist and poured his blood into a vial, tossing it at Stefan.

"Take it, but after this I never see either of you again. Your brother, as well. If I do, I kill you."

Stefan opened his mouth, looking at Caroline and she could tell he was about to argue.

"Go, Stefan. Take the deal. You won't get a better one."

Stefan continued to stare at her, but Katerina dragged him away, and Niklaus and Caroline were left alone.

"Never," Klaus whispered. "Never threaten me like that again, love. You won't like the consequences."

Klaus' hand had wrapped around her throat again has he began to speak, but by the time he had finished it was wrapped in her hair and he was holding her in a desperate embrace.

"I loved you a thousand years ago," he whispered, his voice raw. "Though I was a fool and ignored it. That love never went away, it only got stronger. I will never let you go now, Caroline."

Caroline's arms slowly came up to wrap around Niklaus as well. She was hesitant. This Niklaus was different than the one she had known all those centuries ago, but his scent was the same, and as she breathed him in, she tightened her grip. Nik's lips came down and slanted over hers, and for the first time, ever, the two of them were kissing.

It was like fire. It was like magic. It was as if Caroline had been holding her breath for the best millennium and was only now able to breathe again. She wrapped her arms tighter around him, and Klaus pushed her back, until her back hit the wall. Her hands moved up to entangle themselves in his hair, and for the first time, Caroline could truly see the appeal of being undead. After all, never breathing meant never having to stop kissing Niklaus.

Sadly, all good things must end, and so did that wonderful, earth-shattering kiss. They broke apart, each staring at the other with something approaching wonder.

Then her gaze landed on Elijah.

She slowly, almost regretfully, pulled away.

"Undagger him, Niklaus. Undagger all of them. They are your siblings, and they deserve better."

"Caroline-" Niklaus began, his voice heavy with warning, but Caroline cut him off recklessly.

"Kol has paid for what he did, and I'm back now. As for Finn… it's been nine hundred years. Surely Sage has forgotten him by now. And if I'm going to be travelling with you, I want Rebekah. A girl needs girl talk every now and then. And as for Elijah…" Caroline looked at him. "All he wants is to be re-united with your family. Can't you let that happen?"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Caroline," Klaus growled. "There are reasons I keep them daggered beyond what I view as their infractions. They aren't safe."

"You're the original family. Nothing but a white oak stake can actually kill you, and you burned the white oak tree."

"There is one thing left for us to worry about. Once I've taken care of that, then I'll undagger them. But not a moment before. Buck up, love, you and I are going on a trip to find some werewolves."

"You're not changing the subject, Klaus… although we _will_ be talking about that werewolf thing. What else is there you could possibly have to worry about?"

Klaus's answer sent a chill through Caroline and brought back thousand year old memories, none of them good.

"Mikael."

**AN: I had a phase where I was obsessed with the Caroline-as-an-original storyline. This was the brain child that resulted.**

**Most of these drabbles will be Karoline, but there will be other characters as well (I am rather fond of Katherine and Bonnie can be fun as well). If you have a prompt, you can send it to me at .com or leave it for me here in a review. I can't guarantee it will get done, but I will try. **


	2. Come Over

**AN: The first and probably only Delena drabble I will ever write. Written before S4 ruined them for me. Inspired by Kenny Chesney's "Come Over," which is actually so pre-S4 Delena it hurts.**

**Come Over**

Elena felt a little bit horrible about how she treated Damon earlier.

After everything, the fact that he was still there, still helping her? It amazed her a little bit. If the situation had been reversed and he had chosen Katherine over her, Elena doesn't think she'd be as forgiving. Yet, Damon stayed, and he tried to teach her how to feed. But…

Bonnie's expression had cut her to her soul.

Bonnie had looked at Elena like she was a stranger. And then, Elena had felt like a stranger to herself. Because that _wasn't_ her. Elena didn't feed without a thought… she didn't _revel_ in the taste and the feel of the blood. She didn't crave the thrill of the hunt.

At least, she hadn't. Until she had become a vampire.

But tonight? Tonight Elena had felt more alive than she'd ever felt, even with as a human. She had felt wild, and free, and for a moment all she had been able to think of was how good it felt to be that free with Damon.

In Damon's arms, moving to the music.

Thinking about it now, Elena could still feel the exhilaration.

Then she had seen Bonnie, and being so free had suddenly felt wrong on so many levels.

Partly because it had felt so _right_. Damon had felt so right.

Elena was a girl at war with herself. The part of her that still clung so tightly, so desperately, to her humanity wanted to cling that desperately to Stefan. It wanted to hold onto that relationship that had seemed so strong and pure when she was human.

Then there was the vampire part of Elena. That was the part that wanted freedom. The part that wanted to be a little wild, and it wanted Damon with a passion that took Elena's non-existent breath away. There had always been a spark between Elena and the elder Salvatore brother, her experiences in Denver had taught her that, but it was just so much _stronger_ as a vampire. It made her love and desire for Stefan seem so… lukewarm in comparison.

It terrified Elena. She knew Stefan loved her, but she also knew Stefan could survive without her. Damon? Damon loved her with a love that was soul-consuming. It was epic, though Caroline would never approve of Elena using that term for Damon.

Epic was terrifying to a girl who couldn't decide who she was, much less who she loved.

Elena paced her room, restless. She needed… she needed…

She needed to apologize to Damon.

She needed to talk to Damon.

She just… needed Damon.

"If you're calling to tell me that you're going to rely on Saint Stefan for feeding advice, don't bother. I've already heard. Smart move, though, going to the uncontrollable ripper for help with _control_."

For a second Elena considered hanging up, but she could bring herself to do it.

"I called to apologize."

There was silence on the other end, and Elena could tell that whatever Damon had been expecting, it wasn't this.

"Well… apology accepted. Is that everything?"

Elena is silent for a long time, and she can hear Damon give a huff on the other end. Worried he might hang up, the words begin to spill out of her.

"I don't know how to do this, Damon. I don't want to hurt people, but I don't want to die either, and I just don't think I can handle being a vampire. Stefan says we'll figure it out, but how are we supposed to do that when he has no idea how to control himself much less me? And I just feel everything so much more strongly, and it's tearing me apart, because that means I love Stefan more, but it also means that what I feel for you is stronger… and Damon, you _terrify_ me. More than anything else I've ever faced."

There was silence on Damon's end of the phone, and Elena realized that she had probably just said _way_ too much, both about her love for Stefan, and her feelings for Damon, which she had tried to keep mostly to herself. Because she'd made her choice, but now she's not so sure it was the right one.

"I just… It's not fair, but I need you right now, Damon. You were right earlier. I need to learn how to lose control if I want to keep it, and Stefan can't teach me that. And I can't keep worrying about what Bonnie thinks of me, because she doesn't know what this is like. I have to step up and take control. I can't promise that I won't mess up like this again, and I'll probably yell at you a lot… but I still need you. Because you're the only one who gets what I'm going through right now. Control comes to Caroline too easily for her to get it, and Stefan still doesn't _have_ control, and…"

"Distracting me isn't going to make me forget that I terrify you, Elena," Damon cut her off. "You have to realize that you made a choice. If you're regretting it, you have to tell us… because it's not fair to Stefan, or to me, otherwise."

"That choice was made when I was human!" Elena snapped angrily, finally giving voice to the one thing she hadn't dared say since she had awoken in transition. "Yet everyone is acting as if it should still stand now! Well, I can't tell if it does, because I don't know what's tied to what I felt as a human, and what's caused by blood lust, and what I _really_ feel. I don't _know_ if I regret it. I don't even know who I am anymore, Damon. Can't you understand that?"

There was a pause on Damon's part, then a soft, "Yeah, I get it. Probably better than you understand."

Elena sat on her bed.

"I'm not good for you, Damon," she whispered. "Either of you. Right now, I'm not good for anybody."

"And I'm probably not good for you," Damon responded. "But Elena, we're not good for anyone else, either. I won't ask you to make another choice, because you're right. Right now, you can't think straight. Any choice you make right now probably won't be the same once you've figured stuff out. I just want you to do one thing for me."

"What?" Elena asked.

"Don't lie to yourself anymore. If you hate me, then hate me. But if you love me? Then stop hiding that. Because I'm not going to stop loving you, Elena. Not any time soon."

"And that's what terrifies me."

Elena is surprised when she hears Damon chuckle on the other line.

"Good. In this case, I think terrified might be good. We'll get you through this Elena. And both of us, Stefan _and_ me, will be waiting on the other side, when you finally are feeling sure of yourself again. Until then… well, learning to let loose a little helps you to learn how to _not_ let loose a lot in the future. Remember that the next time Glinda is giving you judgey eyes. "

Elena rolled her eyes at Damon's nickname for Bonnie but couldn't bring herself to reprimand him before hanging up her cell. Not when, for the first time since she had turned, Elena actually felt sort of like herself. Perhaps it was wrong that it was her boyfriend's brother who was responsible for that rather than Stefan… but Elena couldn't bring herself to feel guilty this time.

Damon was right, it was time to stop lying to herself.

It was time to stop playing human.

It was time to stand up on her own, and to see where her new life took her.

**AN: Oh, if only. Like I said, probably the only Delena drabble I'll ever write, because S4 ruined the couple and the characters for me. I wanted Elena to take a step back and figure out what she wanted now that her life was completely turned on its head. Instead, we got the sire bond.**


	3. Cartoons and Globetrotters

**AN: Takes some place after the Miss Mystic competition in S4, but before the Christmas Hybrid massacre. Light hearted with a heavy dose of Katherine at the end for good measure.**

**Cartoons and Globetrotters**

Caroline couldn't name the exact moment she started to enjoy being Klaus bait.

Maybe it started that first time she was put in the role—"Get to know me, I dare you."—or maybe it was the day of the Miss Mystic Falls pageant when he had been so charming and kept her from thinking about Tyler and _his _date for most of the event.

Maybe there is no one moment, but dozen of them that have led her to the here and now.

Because Caroline is sitting next to Klaus in the Mystic Falls movie theatre totally enthralled with "Finding Nemo" and she has no ulterior motive. She had wanted to see the movie on the big screen again, a special Saturday matinee, and Klaus happened along and offered his company. Caroline had been both pleased and startled and had accepted without thinking twice.

Caroline had never admitted her secret love of animated movies to anyone but Stefan, and that had been an accident. He had come to get her for a feeding lesson and caught her watching "The Land Before Time." Caroline had been forced to admit that something about the cartoons had calmed her blood lust and that she had been working on obtaining every animated movie ever made since her transition.

That's why her sitting in the theatre next to Klaus was such a big deal. Because she, Caroline Forbes, ex-Miss Mystic Falls, bad ass vampire, and notorious lover of "The Notebook" could quote every single one of Dory's lines and did so with enthusiasm. It was something she'd kept carefully hidden from Tyler and everyone she knew (except Stefan who, after a week of watching the movie with her everyday once, could quote Marlin right back). Now, Klaus was witnessing her darkest secret. Instead of laughing, however, he looked at her like he thought her enthusiasm was… attractive.

Caroline stopped reprimanding her Squishy and avoided his gaze.

She ran through the usual excuses. Klaus was evil. Klaus killed Jenna. Klaus sired Tyler. Klaus was psycho.

The only problem? Klaus wasn't psycho _or_ evil when he was with her. And the horrible things he did? He did them to other people. It was getting harder and harder to hold grudges for things that hadn't been done to her, personally. Because Caroline was going to live forever, and forever was a long time if there was no one to spend it with.

She had thought she would spend it with Tyler, but Tyler couldn't be away from her for two weeks without hooking up with some werewolf bitch (bitter? Yes. But she felt she had the right to it). Stefan was an option, but with Elena being a vampire, Caroline was pretty sure he was going to be caught in an eternal love triangle. Thanks but no thanks. She'd just catch up to him every decade or so when he went Ripper and drag him back like Lexi had, then force him to watch some "Kung-Fu Panda" with her before moving on.

As for Elena and Damon… well, besides being the other two points in the eternal love triangle, Damon was an ass and Elena. Well, Caroline loved the girl, but being her companion for all eternity was not all that appealing.

Then there was Klaus. Klaus, who had opened her eyes to the world and then offered to show it to her.

"What if I said yes?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the screen where Marlin was waking up with the sea turtles.

"Said yes to what, love?" Klaus responded. Caroline could feel him watching her, but she refused to look away from the movie.

"To Paris, Rome, and Tokyo. What if I asked you to take me away now? Today."

Klaus' gaze felt heavy.

"I'd ask you to wait while I tie up some business, and then the world is yours."

Caroline felt bitterness wash over her. Even when Elena wasn't romantic competition, she still came first.

"Because you want the cure. Always with the hybrids, right Klaus?"

Caroline tried to lose herself in the movie while Klaus sat in shocked silence next to her, but not even Dory could make her feel better. Once again, Elena was more important to someone than Caroline.

"Screw this," she snarled, getting up and stalking from the theatre.

Her leaving must have snapped Klaus from his stupor, because he had Caroline in the alley next to the building within seconds of her leaving the theatre.

"How do you know about the cure?" Klaus hissed, giving her a small shake. But Caroline was too angry to the feel the fear she probably should have and pushed his hands off of her.

"I know you and Stefan had some sort of epic bromance in the twenties, but you've been replaced as his BFF. By me. And I can be irritatingly stubborn, or so I've been told. The second Stefan's behaviour seemed off, he didn't have a chance."

Klaus' expression was tight with tension and he fists were clenched.

"So this was all some ploy, then? You were to be the sacrificial lamb while the Salvatores found the cure and hid Elena away?"

"What? No!" Caroline laughed incredulously until she realized Klaus was completely serious. "Wow. Paranoid much? Damon and Elena don't know. Stefan plans on playing it your way, even though I think he's insane. I mean I love Elena, but turning her _human_ again? Everyone and their dog wanted to use Elena for her blood or as a hostage. You, Elijah, Rebekah, Esther, Katherine, Alaric. _Everyone_. And because we loved her, we risked our lives to save hers, even when she made it really tough. Now she's a vampire and stands a fighting chance of defending _herself_ and you and Stefan want to put me, all of us, back in that position. It's exhausting, Klaus."

"My hybrids would-" Klaus began, but Caroline cut him off.

"No. _We _would. Because we love her. Maybe for us vampires it would be just a brief time while Elena lived out her human life, but Bonnie, Matt and Jeremy love her too, and if Elena is human, they will never have lives. They'll be too busy protecting _hers_. And for what? Your hybrids?"

"Careful, love. You're overstepping your bounds. Ask Rebekah what happens when you do that."

"Only I can't, right? Because you daggered her. Are your hybrids really worth that? Rebekah _loved_ you. I wanted you to take me somewhere… not here. Yet that's not good enough. _We're_ not good enough. You know what? Forget it. Forget me." Suddenly, Caroline was sick of it all. Sick of risking herself for Elena, sick of Klaus' pursuit of hybrids, just sick of Mystic Falls and all the misery it brought. She wanted out. "I don't need you to show me the world. I can find it on my own."

Caroline left him there in that alley. She was done with all of it. She'd put in her time, she'd risked her neck enough. Elena could take care of herself as a vampire, or she could crash and burn as a human, but Caroline was sticking around to watch it all happen.

And she still knew another vampire.

DRABBLE

"We're in London and you're watching cartoons? That's just… sad."

Caroline rolled her eyes at Katherine's words. It had been three months since she had left Mystic Falls. She had hunted Katherine down in New York and the older vampire, intrigued by the thought of a travelling companion, had agreed to teach Caroline the ways of a globetrotting vampire.

Katherine might seem an odd companion, but she was actually tolerable once you got used to her. She also served as a good "screw you" choice to Klaus.

"This isn't just a cartoon. It's "Despicable Me"!" Katherine just raised a brow at the indignant words, so Caroline huffed and rolled her eyes again (she did this often around Katherine). "I went to that club with you last night, and I said I'd go again tonight. So just watch the movie."

Katherine sighed, but sat down.

An hour later, she had hi-jacked the popcorn bowl and Caroline swore there were tears in her eyes as Gru kissed his girls and his minions good night.

Caroline smirked and snatched a handful of popcorn. It always happened this way. Katherine scoffed at her cartoons, but Caroline had caught her watching "Toy Story 3" all alone more times than she could count.

Caroline's smug-party was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Go get it," Katherine ordered, her eyes glued to the antics of the minions during end credits.

Caroline was already at the door and in mid-eye roll when she opened it and saw who was there.

"Hello, love."

Holy Klaus Mikaelson.

Caroline gulped and glanced back into the apartment. Katherine was gone, though a window that should have been closed was now open.

"I see Katerina left. Smart girl." Klaus brushed past Caroline into the apartment. "Interesting choice of companions."

Caroline crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I don't exactly know a lot of vampires. She's okay after a while."

"She killed you."

"Tried to. So did you." Caroline holds out her arms. "Yet here I stand, still kicking. What are you doing here?"

Klaus chuckled at Caroline's snark and leaned against the wall.

"Well, as I risked my neck to save the Doppleganger and friends from the hunter, I realized it was a bit foolish. There I was, risking myself for people I neither trust nor care for in hopes of gaining a cure that may or may not exist when you gave me a farm more tempting offer. So here I am."

"It wasn't an open invitation, Klaus. It was a one time accept-it-or-not deal. You chose not."

"So you offered it to Katerina? Really, love?"

"I like Katherine," Caroline replied stubbornly. "She doesn't expect me to risk my life for Elena. And she likes animated movies almost as much as I do, even if she won't admit it."

"I like them too," Klaus responded. "I bought "Finding Nemo." I also woke Rebekah. She tried to put the dagger into me and then stole the copy of "Finding Nemo" I had bought. She's currently not speaking to me."

"Ouch."

"It _was_ painful. I also had to buy a new DVD. I left her in Mystic Falls to do as she may. She's Stefan's problem now. I told him all I know of the Five. If he wants to get the cure, he'll have to get the rest out of Bekah. And hope she doesn't get to it first."

"And if he cures Elena?"

"I don't know. I thought I'd try seeing the world with you. See if you're truly better company than my hybrids."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at him.

"I am. Guarantee it. Pardon Katherine."

"Excuse me?" Klaus' voice sounded choked.

"I need a movie watching buddy. And I'm going to a club with her tonight. You don't have to like her, just stop trying to kill her. Or have other people kill her. You hurt my feelings when you chose Elena over me. If you do this, then I'll start to forgive you and let you show me the world."

"Oh for… you leave with me for Tuscany tonight and Katerina need not fear my wrath. But you agree to forgive me _and_ to let me court you."

"Court me? Seriously? Fine, but you'll still have to work on the forgiveness part. I expect my own room _and_ you have to draw me more ponies. Some apology flowers would be nice, too."

Klaus' expression was exasperated until Caroline grasped his hand and it morphed into a smile.

_Yes_, she thought,_ this could work._

DRABBLE

Katherine returned hours later to an empty apartment and a note from Caroline.

_**Katherine,**_

_**Gone with Klaus to Italy. He's promised not to try to kill you anymore. Call me and we'll reschedule our Lion King marathon.**_

_** 3 Caroline**_

Katherine laughed as she finished the note. Who knew her little pawn would not only become her friend, but also the person to release her from Klaus' shit list.

Katherine laughed again and sent Caroline a text.

_**Marathon apartment 2 weeks from Sat. Have fun.**_

Now she had almost three weeks to kill and no one to hide from in the first time in five centuries.

She'd heard Elijah was in Toronto. Maybe she'd use her new freedom to reconnect with an old flame…

**AN: Had to include a hint of Kalijah, because they're such an interesting couple.**


	4. Me And Myself

**AN: A tumblr request for a twist on the Kalena selfcest, with it simply being Katherine/Katherine. I was on a Buffy kick, and this was the result.**

**Me and Myself**

"Warren, how have you been?"

After his dealings with Spike, this was the last visitor Warren wanted. Working with vampires was lucrative but terrifying.

And Katherine Pierce was more terrifying than most.

"Ah, Katherine. You're here for your… request?"

"Yes I am."

Katherine had to admit she was suitably impressed with Warren's creation. It was perfect, every little detail. She had planned to kill the creepy little human once she had her purchase in hand, but now she thought she'd spare him.

After all, who knew when she'd need a robotic clone again.

Katherine had barely survived Mikael's "feeding" and her presence was requested in Mystic Falls, where the psychotic hunter was. Going near him again wasn't high on her to-do list. The robot though… unnatural strength, Katherine's looks. No one would know the difference.

As long as the personality was right.

Katherine booted up the robot. It's large brown eyes blinked open and a wicked smirk came to its lips.

"Well hello," it purred.

"Hello to you," Katherine replied, circling around it. "Warren put a lot of love into you, didn't he?"

"I'm very loveable."

"I'm sure you are." Katherine ran a hand down her double's arm. As a Doppleganger, there was a small part of Katherine that was… curious. What attractive vampire who had done it all wouldn't want to do themselves? But Elena was such a good girl and Katherine hated to be bored in bed.

This, though… this may be a robot, but it was built with Katherine's face and Katherine's personality.

Katherine pressed her lips against identical ones. Warren had done well. The lips were soft and the robot responsive. Identical moans came from identical mouths and soon clothes were being peeled off.

The body was accurate too, and Katherine wondered form a moment how the creepy worm had pulled _that _off before she lost herself in sensation.

It was like a twisted form of masturbation, and after years of doing everything from normal to kinky, twisted fit Katherine's desires just fine. Moaning her own name gave her libido a kick too.

The robot had clever fingers, and an even more clever mouth, and it didn't take long before Katherine had her hands wrapped in long, silky dark hair reaching her peak.

"Well, that was fun," Katherine purred, coming down from her pleasure induced high. "It's almost too bad I can't keep you. Do you know what you're supposed to do?"

The robot reclined and looked at Katherine from beneath lowered lashes. The coy expression Katherine had practiced in the mirror as a young girl.

"I'm to go to Mystic Falls and cause chaos."

"Exactly," Katherine agreed. "And then?"

"And then I'm to blow myself up."

_Yes_, Katherine thought as she watched the robot saunter away two hours and another round of fun later, _it really was too bad she had to let the robot go._

But… she still had Warren's number. And now that Stefan had gone all ripper again, maybe he would enjoy having two dopplegangers instead of just one- and the boring one at that.

After all, Ripper Stefan is another experience Katherine has never been able to have.

**AN: Once again, weirdly fun to write. And Katherine is a hoot.**


	5. White Houses

**AN: Bonnie-centric. Takes place in S4, when she's just starting to practice Expression.**

**White Houses**

Bonnie remembers the days of cheerleading and boy talk with fondness.

She can remember Caroline, always the over-achiever, determined to outshine Elena at everything. The bubbly blonde who never seemed to have a thought deeper than the next party, but damn did she know how to throw a good one.

She can remember Elena, the popular golden girl. Girlfriend to the football captain, and poster child for future success. Everyone knew who Elena was, and they loved her.

Bonnie can also remember herself, a wide-eyed innocent caught between her two friends, but who loved life, and who didn't have a worry bigger than what to wear to school to attract a potential boyfriend.

She can remember the boys, Matt the golden boy to match Elena's golden girl, Tyler the jock-jerk, and Jeremy, Elena's sweet baby brother.

Bonnie longs for those days again. She longs for the day when she was just a little bit psychic, and her grams was still just the crazy grandmother who claimed to be a witch, but she was a _living_ crazy grandmother. She made the best chocolate chip cookies in those days. In the days of innocence and happy oblivion.

It's hard to believe not even two years has passed since those days. That not even two years have passed since Elena's parents went off that bridge and everything changed.

That was the catalyst. Not when Stefan and Elena started dating, not when Damon made his presence known, not when Bonnie embraced her witch heritage, but when the Gilberts went over that bridge, and only Elena came out of the water alive. That was the moment that changed Elena. The Elena of pre-Wickery Bridge would have thought Stefan was cute, she probably would've even flirted with him, but she would have never taken the blind leap into love with him. Her parents would have kept her from going that far.

From that moment on, no one's life would be the same.

Elena became the serious girl who had to grow up too fast, and who fell in love too easily. Then she became a vampire who was losing herself to a world of blood and wild emotion.

Jeremy became a junkie, who turned into a vampire-hunter in training.

Bonnie embraced her witch heritage, then went too far and lost it again.

Caroline became a vampire and learned that there was more to life than beating Elena Gilbert.

Tyler became a werewolf and fell in love with Caroline and the jock-jerk became a friend to be proud of.

Matt stayed human, but he had to live with the fact that he kept that humanity at the expense of Elena's. It was Elena's choice, but it would always be Matt who had to deal with the guilt of it.

Everyone changed, everything changed. Some of those changes were for the better. She doubts Caroline would ever want to go back to who she was. Tyler either… but Bonnie still sometimes longs for the past.

In those days, the world had always seemed so black and white. There was good, there was bad. You claimed you would sacrifice yourself for your friends, but it was never a claim that would actually be tested.

Now, Bonnie belongs to the same world of blood and wild emotion that Elena is losing herself to, and she knows that she will never survive it without power. So she smiles at Professor Shane and decides to take his offer of re-discovering her witchcraft.

She is too far gone into the world of the night to ever turn back, so she'll grasp onto any possibility of regaining her powers, not for her friends, or her grams, but for herself. Because Bonnie refuses to be swallowed alive by the vampires, and to stop it from happening, she needs to be the most powerful.

Bonnie is no longer naïve and caught between her two strong-willed best friends. Now, she's strong in her own right.

It's time to stop yearning for the past, and to show the world what Bonnie Bennett is made of.

**AN: I want Dark!Bonnie. So far, we've really just been teased with it. We saw hints of it in S4, but it was never truly explored. I feel like Plec (or whoever runs the show now) and crew are really missing out by relegating Bonnie to convenient plothole status. She's so much more, and I wish we got to see that.**


	6. Hunter's Curse

**AN: Takes place in the same AU as "A Thousand Years." Klaus' Hunter's curse in that reality.**

**Hunter's Curse**

"You know, ending it all would be easier on you."

Klaus looked up from the couch he was sprawled on to glare at Alexander, wishing it was possible to kill the dead all over again.

"Are you still here? I'd like to kill myself, just so I never had to hear your voice again, but sadly I'm immortal."

Klaus fell back on the couch and stared up at the roof. For the past fifty-six years and almost nine months the damned Hunters had been haunting him, determined to make him their last kill. They had taken the form of his siblings, his mother, his father, even Tatia. They had told him how much of a monster he was, how he should simply kill himself. Henrik had been the hardest. Looking into his younger brother's eyes as the youth blamed Klaus for his death had made Klaus wish there was actually a way for him to end it all, had actually tried to. He had spent nearly a decade and a half trying every method he could think of to end it- staking himself, drowning himself. He had even lit himself on fire once before Elijah had stopped him. Nothing had worked, and so he had quit trying, instead lying in misery and letting the ghosts of his past haunt him.

The only one whose form the hunters _hadn_'_t _taken was _hers_. She was the one thing Klaus managed to hold tightly to her chest. All his other secrets the Hunters had dragged from his mind. They had used them to mock him, to insult him, to drive him to the very brink of insanity and beyond.

But not her. Not his Sunshine Girl. She, Klaus had managed to keep from them, using her to keep him from losing himself entirely. She may hate him now, but memories of her love, of her sweet touch, were all he had to hold onto. He refused to let the Hunters sully her.

"Why don't you give up?" Alexander asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to him. "Find Mikael. End it all."

"My hatred for my father outweighs even my desire to put an end to your incessant complaints. You're beginning to repeat yourself, old friend. We've already been down this road."

"Nik?" Rebekah's voice came, and Nik lifted himself up once more to look at his wide-eyed sister. She stood in the doorway, staring at him.

"Ah, sister. I was just having a chat with your dearly departed suitor." Klaus waved a hand to where Alexander sat. "Sadly, you can't see him."

"I came to see how you were doing," Rebekah said, her voice small. Klaus knew she was destroying herself with guilt, but he couldn't bring himself to care about much these days, not even his sister. After all, it was her fault he was being tormented in the first place.

"As you can see, Bekah, there's been no change. _Leave_."

Rebekah grasped the door frame tightly.

"Kol left," she said softly. "He went to find Caroline. We thought perhaps she could-"

"No!" Klaus roared as memories of the beautiful blonde filled his mind. He flashed so he was in front of Rebekah, her neck grasped in his hand. "No! Do you know what you've done? I've kept her from them for over five deca-"

"Let Bekah go, Nik. That's hardly the way to treat your sister."

"No," Klaus whispered, releasing Rebekah's neck. He spun around. Where Alexander had sat moments before, Caroline now knelt gracefully. She looked just as she had the night he had turned her. Her hair was pulled back in a long braid, and she wore a blue dress with a leather belt braided at her waist. She looked so beautiful, so _alive_, that it broke Klaus' heart. The first glimpse he'd had of his love in over two centuries, and it wasn't even her.

"No," Klaus whispered again, falling to his knees.

"Nik?" Rebekah asked, her voice scared. "What is it, Nik?"

Caroline stood up and glided gracefully toward him. Her smile was the same as he remembered it being, bright enough to light up his whole world.

"Hello, Nik," Caroline murmured, reaching out to rest her fingers on his cheeks. "It's been a while."

"Caroline," Klaus replied, his voice a broken crack. In fifty-six, nearly fifty-seven, years the Hunters had valiantly tried to find his breaking point, never succeeding.

Until now. Until his sister so thoughtlessly revealed his biggest weakness to the ghosts that haunted him.

"Caroline?" Rebekah replied. "Nik… is Caroline here now?"

"Leave, Rebekah," Klaus ordered, his voice still broken. "You've allowed them to break me. At least allow me to do it in private."

"Nik-"

"I said leave!" Klaus roared, flashing to his feet and turning on Rebekah. She hardly had time to gasp before her neck was broken and her limp body was thrown through the doorway. Klaus slammed the door shut, locking it against the outside world and leaning his head against the wood.

"You've become a monster, Nik. I knew it before I left… but this proves it. Rebekah always loved you, even when it was foolish to do so. I wasn't that foolish."

Klaus didn't want to look behind him. He wanted to close his eyes and his ears to the words pouring out of his love's mouth, but the Hunters wouldn't allow him to ignore their latest creation. He heard her approach before he felt her hands gliding up his neck, turning his face towards her.

"You deserve to die, Nik," she whispered. "For what you did to me, to Esther, to hundreds of other innocents. You deserve to die."

"I love you," Klaus replied. "I never got the chance to say it before."

"Saying it now changes nothing."

"I know, but I needed to anyways." Klaus reached out to touch her face, but Caroline disappeared before he could do so.

"Such a weakness," Alexander murmured behind him. "You held out on us, Niklaus."

Klaus spun around, ready to swing fruitlessly at the Hunter, but there was no one there. He had been granted a reprieve from the specters for the moment.

Klaus knew it would be brief. Then a whole new hell would begin.

DRABBLE

"I used to love brushing your hair," Caroline said. "I got to do it so rarely, but I loved it."

Caroline sat at the dressing table in Niklaus' room, surveying the sparse items there. Just a brush and some papers.

"I used to love letting you," Klaus replied. "But Mikael thought it made me look weak."

"Where is Mikael these days?" Caroline asked, picking up the brush and looking at it.

"Italy."

Caroline sat the brush down and stood, moving to the couch where Klaus was reclined once more. She sat on the edge, and ran her fingers along his jaw line, up into his hair.

"You should go to him," she said. "Let him kill you. I would forgive you if you died."

"You're not her," Klaus replied, his voice weak. He reached out and ran a strand of her hair through his fingers. "I keep telling myself that. You're not her. She's… who knows where she is? But it's far from here. Logically, I know you're not her. But you look so much like her that sometimes…"

Klaus trailed off as he ran his fingers across the silky smooth skin of her cheek. She even felt as she had when she was human, warm and full of light. God he missed her light.

"I could be happy," she murmured, leaning down so that her lips grazed his as she spoke. "I _would_ be happy, if you would just die."

Klaus tried to raise himself up, to grasp her lips in what would be their first real kiss, but she disappeared before he could do so. He fell back again, feeling lost and bereft without her.

DRABBLE

"Kol couldn't find her."

Once again, Caroline was the torment of choice from the hunter. Klaus lay on his ever faithful couch, with her kneeling next to him.

This time, Elijah interrupted them.

It was the first time any of his siblings had come to his room since he had snapped Rebekah's neck.

"I didn't think he would," Klaus replied. "I don't know why you thought it would help."

"She could always calm you. I thought perhaps…"

"Perhaps what? She'd throw herself at me and we'd be in love and I would be magically cured? I hear her say how she hates me enough thanks to the curse. I don't need to hear it in reality, brother."

"Elijah was always the most noble of you all," Caroline mused, looking at the man in the doorway. "How the mighty fall. He's as much a monster as you."

"Attack me all you want, Love. Let's leave Elijah out of it," Klaus replied.

"Is she here, now?" Elijah asked, looking around the room, as if he thought he could perhaps see the blonde.

"Only within my own mind," Klaus replied, reaching out to touch Caroline's cheek. "She tells me to kill myself. I find I don't care, as long as I get to hear her voice."

"Niklaus-"

"You can do nothing for me, Elijah," Klaus cut his brother off. "Leave me in peace with these visions. They are the closest I will ever be to having her again."

Klaus knew Elijah wanted to say more, but his brother was smart. He knew when an argument was useless, and so Elijah left.

"You aren't listening to me, Niklaus," Caroline snaps, moving away from him. "I'm not here to comfort you. I'm here because I want you to die."

"Yes, well the Hunters plan backfired on them, my dear. I hate that you hate me, but I find that I prefer seeing you hate me, hearing you wish me dead, to never seeing you at all." Klaus flashed in front of her, holding her face in his hands. "It may drive me mad, but it's a sweet insanity."

Klaus bent down to kiss her, his eyes drifting shut.

Then he felt a wave of power flood over him.

His eyes snapped open. The air in front of him was empty. Caroline was gone.

"No!" he roared. "No! No!"

No Hunter appeared. No Caroline mocked him, telling him to die.

The curse was gone, his Sunshine Girl with it.

**AN: This was fun to write. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it was fun. I'm pretty sure I had the length of the curse wrong, but still, it was a long freaking time. That's all that needs to be known.**


	7. Strawberry Wine

**AN: Some Kalijah inspired by the song "Strawberry Wine" by Deanna Carter (is that how it's spelled? I'm not sure).**

**Strawberry Wine**

Sometimes, Katerina closes her eyes and remembers.

She remembers her humanity. She remembers her family. She remembers a time when she was innocent and believed in true love and was still a dreamer.

Most of all, she remembers Elijah.

For a few brief weeks, Katerina had lived with the Mikaelson brothers. Officially, Klaus was the one courting her, but unofficially?

Elijah had been the one to steal her heart.

Katerina hadn't been innocent to men when she met Elijah, but she had been innocent of heart. At first she had believed that Klaus was the prince meant to sweep her off her feet and carry her to a better world, a world that would be far less cruel than the one she had left behind. It hadn't taken long for those girlish dreams of a hero to transfer to Elijah once Katerina realized that Klaus' interest wasn't as… strong as she'd first thought.

She may have been promised to Klaus, but it was Elijah who made her dream of happily ever after.

Instead, Katerina got a nightmare.

Her family murdered.

Her life destroyed.

And Katerina herself became a monster.

Klaus was the one to strike the blows, but Elijah was the one who Katerina blamed. Klaus had charmed her into staying with him, but it had been Elijah who had convinced her to stay. Who had made her believe her fairytale ending was within her grasp.

Klaus destroyed her family, but Elijah destroyed her. He was the first man she had ever truly loved, including the man that had fathered her child. And Elijah had lied to her. He had almost led her like a lamb to the slaughter. In the end, it was Trevor, the infatuated servant, not Elijah that had saved her.

Katerina had fled Elijah and Klaus, and she had sworn she would never again allow herself to be used in that way. If anyone was to be a user, it would be her.

Those thoughts would control Katerina's actions for the next five hundred years. Even once she made her way to America and changed her name to Katherine, it was still the final weeks of the mortal Katerina's life that controlled her actions.

She found herself attracted to the Salvatore brothers, so she turned them against each other. She caused them pain, so they would never have the power to do so to her. She played with them, then abandoned them when things became dangerous. For all her claims to love Stefan, Katherine still hadn't been willing to give him all her heart. Hearts were breakable, Katherine knew that from experience. And her heart had never recovered from Elijah enough to be given away again.

Katherine still loves and hates Elijah in alternate cycles. She remembers the sweetness of his lips, the feel of his touch, and she yearns for it. She remembers the betrayal and the pain, and she wishes he were dead.

So, every year, never on a specific date, because Katherine is too smart to allow her actions to be pre-determined by a schedule, Katherine returns to the estate she had called home for a few short weeks when she was still called Katerina. The estate has fallen into disrepair. Somewhere in the string of owners after Klaus, someone had allowed the once glorious house fade away. The tenants of the land had left behind their fields for greener pastures. It was almost unrecognizable now, but Katherine could still stand in the torn up courtyard, close her eyes, and remember Elijah.

_I do not believe in love._

How naïve she had been to think that she would be the one to change his opinion.

But with her eyes closed, Katherine can breathe in the air and be transported back five hundred years. She can become Katerina again, and for a moment she can remember what it is to be young and innocent and truly in love for the first time. Katherine allows herself that moment once a year to be innocent again, then she opens her eyes, and laughs at the fool she had been.

_If we cease to believe in love, why would we want to live?_

The girl who had uttered the words did indeed die when she ceased to believe in love. Katerina Petrova was left behind with the pieces of her shattered heart, and Katherine Pierce was left to make what she would of her death.

**AN: Katherine = super fun character to write, even when the story is kind of sad and introspective. There's just such a sharp contrast to who she was and who she is, and it's so entertaining to explore that. And Kalijah, just because.**


	8. She Always Gets What She Wants

**AN: An Originals/TVD AU. Because I want what I want and since the show won't give it to me, I'll just write it myself.**

**She Always Gets What She Wants**

She shows up on his doorstep with the announcement that humanity is over-rated and he was a major itch she was determined to scratch.

Klaus resists her for all of ten minutes before falling into bed. For all that she claimed to have left humanity behind, she was still _Caroline_. Strong, beautiful, and so full of that addicting light, and in that moment her light had burned bright for _him_.

The next morning there is an awkward moment when she discovers the presence of Hayley and the unborn child. For a brief second, there is murder in the blonde's eyes, but it is quickly replaced with mocking amusement.

"Seriously? Do you get off on being a stand in for me or something?" Caroline sneers, looking down her nose at the werewolf girl. "Sixteen and pregnant… so much for not doing high school drama."

Klaus doesn't understand the reference, but Hayley looks livid and humiliated. Elijah gives Caroline a disapproving frown, which she ignores. The eldest vampire is overly protective of the werewolf, and does his best to defend her from all slights. Usually they come from Klaus.

The same disapproving look at Klaus simply elicits a shrug. Should Elijah try to force a choice between the pregnant wolf and Caroline, he will not like the choice Klaus makes.

Time passes. Caroline continues to share Klaus' bed, she forms an uneasy loyalty with Rebekah against both Marcel and the witches and Klaus' child is born. It's a girl with Klaus' dimples and Hayley's big eyes and chocolate curls. They name her Erika.

Caroline kills Hayley.

"Oh buck up, Rebekah," she says to Rebekah's shocked expression when the blonde baby vamp walks into the dining room for breakfast one morning after Erika has been weaned off breast milk and simply rips out Hayley's heart without warning. "Now you can play mommy rather than devoted aunt."

"You had no right!" Elijah snarls, though Klaus can see the shock in his usually calm brother's eyes. In the months since her arrival, Caroline has shown herself to be nothing if not loyal to Klaus and his family, a family that _had_ included Hayley until that moment.

"I had every right," Caroline responds, picking a linen napkin up from the table and using it to clean off her hand. The red is stark contrast to the white linen, to the pale perfection of Caroline's arm. "While I've been screwing Klaus, _she's _been screwing Marcel." All them, even Klaus, are shocked at that revelation. "Why so shocked? She had no loyalty and spreading her legs for protection was Hayley's M.O. You all may have thought motherhood would change her, but I knew better. Once a disloyal low-life, always a disloyal low-life."

She tosses the napkin back on the table and saunters out, but Klaus had seen the look in her eyes before she left.

There had been anger. A deep, soul-burning anger.

But there had also been grief.

Klaus also realized in that moment that while Caroline claimed humanity was over-rated, she had never _actually_ turned hers off.

"What happened to you love?" Klaus asks that night after his breathing recovers from a particularly wild romp.

"Bonnie died in the name of Elena Gilbert and realized I didn't want to be the next sacrifice on her altar. I realized, as I kept my mother locked up to get the vervain out of her system, that being soft only got you dead. So I hardened, and I compelled my mother to go anywhere but Mystic Falls, and then I came here." Caroline begins to slide down his body as she speaks. Klaus had thought he was spent, but Caroline proves she can wring more out of him.

"I want to be Queen," she whispers before they fade into sleep, and Klaus dreams that night of how glorious a sight that would be.

And it comes naturally to her.

Caroline was cold and ruthless, even as she is fair. While Klaus has been trying to fight Marcel with force and plots, Caroline has been stealing the city out from beneath both their feet without them ever realizing it. She doesn't fight with fang and strength, but rather with the simple overwhelming force that is _her_.

She whispers in the ears of the young vampires who will never get a daylight ring in this century if Marcel is in power, and to the older vampires she makes herself seem malleable and easily moulded into a shape that they can control, so they'll help her bring down their master.

And when she plays her trump card, the young witch Davina and Sophie Deveraux's coven, it is a crushing blow that leaves not one vampire over the age of one hundred but Klaus and his siblings alive in the city.

"Don't pout, Klaus," she purrs when she stands amongst her loyal followers of young vampires and witches, and Klaus realizes that this has been her plan all along, to string him along with exactly what he always wanted only to crush him in the end. "It doesn't suit you."

"You betrayed us," Rebekah says, sounding both angry and oddly… impressed.

"Betrayal insinuates some level of loyalty," Caroline responds coolly, looking utterly untouchable. "You never had that from me."

Klaus is beyond angered. He wants nothing more than to rip the young vampire's heart out, just as he feels she's ripped out his.

"What you said of Hayley. It was a lie then?" Elijah asks, and his voice is resigned. They are the oldest family alive, and were it just the young vampires they could easily destroy them all. But somehow, Caroline has gained the loyalty of those witches, and it is their power that really does render the blond queen untouchable.

"Oh, no. She really was sleeping with Marcel. I think she felt a little ignored. If you're asking if her betrayal was the reason I killed her… then yes. But not her betrayal to you."

"Will it always be him, then?" Klaus asks in a snarl, because the only other betrayal of Hayley's Klaus knows of is her betrayal to Tyler Lockwood.

"Still jealous?" Caroline asks with a bitter laugh. "Oh, how tempted I am to say yes, just to dig the knife in a little deeper. To make you _seethe_ with jealousy… but I won't have it said that my actions in this were driven by a boy, any boy. Hayley's betrayal to the hybrids led to the second sacrifice. It led to Bonnie dying. In what world did it make sense for that bitch to keep living when Bonnie Bennett was dead?"

Her expression is half-mad, and Klaus wondered how it is that he could have missed something so damn obvious. She had never turned off her humanity, and it was that humanity that drove even now.

Her grief for Bonnie Bennett.

"So you killed Hayley, but what was the point of this little coup?" Elijah waves around. "Why take the throne."

"Hayley pointed the gun, but _you_ pulled the trigger," Caroline looks straight at Klaus. "Without those sacrifices, none of this would have ever happened."

"Then you're as much to blame as I am," Klaus points out, part of him wanting to hurt Caroline as much as her words are hurting him. "You killed the witches in the final sacrifice… remember?"

Caroline's eyes are cold and distant as she looks at him.

"Of course I remember," she responds. "And we'll both have to live, knowing that we had exactly what we always wanted within our grasp, yet never being able to touch it. It will be our punishment, Klaus. Our eternal misery."

There is a part of him that wants to rejoice, because her words mean that she wants exactly what he has always wanted; she wants _him_. That means that the past few months, all those nights spent in bed, were not complete lies.

The larger part of him wants to kill her, to let her take her _eternal misery_ with her to hell.

"You can't drive us out, Love," Klaus purrs, his voice dangerous. "You left no one powerful enough to do that. And the witches? They are fickle creatures. You cannot count on their loyalty forever."

The witches glare at Klaus, and he wonders what exactly it is that Caroline promised them. He swears to himself that he will make sure those promises are broken. Caroline played a clever game, but she isn't old enough for this city, not yet.

Not ever, if the plans Klaus is making pan out.

"I know about witches, Klaus," Caroline responds. "I'm not a fool. But you and your siblings should leave. We've won, it's time to party. Let the good times roll, and all that."

As if her words have broken some sort of spell that her confrontation with the original family has caused, the vampires around her let out a cheer, and even the witches smile and begin to relax. The only ones left tense and guarded are Caroline, Sophie, and young Davina. Those three watch with very different eyes holding very similar expressions as Klaus and his siblings make their way away from the French Quarter.

Elijah and Rebekah wisely stay silent as they return home, and Klaus separates from them as soon as they enter the house, branching off for Erika's room and the comfort only the infant can bring to him. He can hear Camille saying her good-byes to Rebekah as his sister thanks her for babysitting, but the last thing he wants to see in the blonde who had once made him think of Caroline.

She lays in her crib, gurgling, her hands reaching upward for the mobile above her. She is so innocent, and Klaus can almost imagine that he is at peace in her presence.

Until he sees the blonde sitting in the corner, watching him watch his daughter.

"What are you doing here," he hisses at Caroline.

"Reminding you that it is easy. To break you even more than you've already been broken. My people and I are not as strong as you, Rebekah and Elijah… but Erika? She's so very mortal, Klaus."

Klaus has his hand in her chest and around her heart before the last syllable fully leaves her lips. She didn't try to dodge him, instead she just stares up at him with those defiant blue eyes. He's seen this expression in them before – twice, in fact. And both times, he saved her.

He is disgusted with himself when he releases her heart and steps away. Despite her betrayal, despite her threats, he still cannot kill her.

"Leave. You won't kill an infant."

"No. But she won't be an infant forever," Caroline responds, climbing into the window to leave. "Tell me, Klaus, how old was Elena when you sacrificed her? How old was Katerina Petrova, when she hunger herself to become Katherine Pierce? Eighteen?" Caroline stares at him long and hard. "That's how long you have with her. That's how long my mercy extends. Eighteen years. You'd best look for a hiding place now. Eternal misery… that's all either of us has to look forward to."

And then she is gone, and the peace Klaus finds with his infant daughter disappears with her.

All that he's left with is anger that he was unable to simply pull out her heart, fear for the infant he is coming to love despite the weakness it brings, and a curse whispered from the lips of the girl he could have spent eternity with so very easily.

_Eternal misery_.

**AN: Inspired by my desire for a Dark!Caroline with her humanity intact and the song "She Always Get What She Wants" by Emerson Drive. It's a great song. I originally planned on a happy ending with Klaus as Caroline's king, but then that song came on and I decided nope! Caroline is too pissed at the world for happy endings.**


	9. Odds Are

**AN: So, I'm embarking on a new ship… Steroline! Now, I don't wish for anyone to worry, Klaroline is still my OTP for Caroline, but I do see potential in Steroline as well. Particularly since my OT3 is Klefaroline, so my head canon is that years and years (centuries even) down the line, Stefan and Caroline will meet up with Klaus and create a wonderful threesome and unicorns will shit rainbows and all will be well in the world. Until that eventuality, here is what is mostly likely an extremely AU scenario involving the Stefan/Caroline meeting in 5x04.**

**Title and musical inspiration from "Odds Are" by Barenaked Ladies, so expect light-hearted fluff.**

**Odds Are**

She sits at the bonfire smiling at Jesse, pretending like she doesn't want to be a hundred miles away in Mystic Falls, and tries to forget that her best friend is out there not remembering that they're best friends.

When Jesse smiles back and flirts light heartedly, she realizes that all those hours as Klaus bait has paid off, because this guy is _buying_ it. He's buying her false interest and smiles, and part of her almost feels bad.

Jesse is cute, he's charming. He's _not_ a megalomaniac Hybrid with trust issues. He's everything she should be looking for in a rebound. Hell, he's everything she should be looking for _period._

But Stefan is out there not remembering that once upon a time not so very long ago it was Stefan and Caroline against the world, and her heart is breaking. But Jesse knows more about that creepy professor than Caroline does, and she needs to know what she's dealing with since Elena has gone AWOL on her, and now it's up to Caroline to solve the mystery of dead-Megan and her connection to Elena's Dad.

There's a part of Caroline that's bitter about that. This isn't _her_ family drama, it's Elena's. Elena who is there, in Mystic Falls, with Stefan, even though she dumped him for his douche bag brother. And Caroline knows that Stefan left that safe as the Ripper, because her Mom had told her about the brutalized body he'd left behind. Stefan doesn't need an ex-girlfriend or the brother she slept with, he needs and goddamn sober sponsor.

And that's _her_.

"Hey, are you okay? You seem to be spacing out?" Jesse's voice jolts Caroline back to the present, back to him, and she sends him an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. I just got distracted for a second."

"Oh? I hope I'm not boring you."

"Not at all." Caroline gives him her most charming smile and she can practically see him falling under her spell, and she feels a pang of guilt. Because as cute and charming as Jesse is, she doesn't really feel anything for him. There's none of the mutual reliance and young love that she felt for Tyler, or the simmering passion that had existed with Klaus. There's not even the easy comradeship that she felt with Stefan, that bond that was meant to last for centuries because you knew that, while you may not always put each other _first_, you would definitely always be each other's _second_, and really that was so much better. Because first place? That always changes. Love comes, love goes, and the person on top of the list can easily fade away. But that second place spot? That's forever.

Only that didn't exist anymore, because Caroline was at Whitmore talking to a guy she didn't really care about, trying to get information about something that wasn't even really her problem while Stefan was out there somewhere unable to remember that Caroline Forbes had ever existed in his life.

Stefan might always be Caroline's second, but right now she wasn't even on his list.

She feels tears rising in her eyes at the thought, and a sob sticks in the back of her throat.

"I'm really sorry, Jesse. I need to go." Caroline whirls away from the boy, intent on leaving the party and returning to her room to wallow in her loneliness. Instead, she hits a firm chest and feels arms wrap around her when she begins to tumble to the ground.

She recognizes those arms. They've held her before, comforted her when she was confused and didn't have a clue what she was becoming. She recognizes the scent that belongs to it. It's warm and masculine and so very, very Stefan. Because that's who those arms belong to.

"Hey, Caroline," he says, and though there is a question in those eyes, as if he's not entirely sure he has the right person, all Caroline can do is thank God that he's somehow found his way to her. That, somehow, she's still on his list.

"Hi, Stefan," Caroline squeaks out, because there's something more in his eyes than the question and she's not quite sure what to call it, and she looks down at the arms still wrapped around her. Stefan seems to realize he's still holding her at the same moment, and he quickly releases her, replacing his hold with a hand on the arm until he's sure she's regained her bearings.

"I'm Jesse," Jesse says, joining Caroline's side. "And you are?"

Caroline wants to roll her eyes at the male posturing, because seriously? She's only been sort of flirting with Jesse for a week, which means he totally does not have the right to try and play big jealous boyfriend.

"This is Stefan. He's my best friend from back home. And I had no idea he was coming to visit."

"Elena was supposed to call," Stefan says quickly, and it warms Caroline's heart to realize that, even without his memories, he can read her well enough to know when she's asking a question without her having to actually ask the question.

"Well she didn – oh, my phone is dead." Caroline looks blankly at the black screen that is refusing to light up when she hits the button. "I didn't even notice."

There is a smug look on Jesse's face, but Caroline doesn't quite have the heart to tell him that her distraction was caused by worry over Stefan, not any real enjoyment of his company. She's been pumping him for information, so she'll let him have this one small victory. After all, she's about to blow this joint with another guy.

"It was good talking to you, Jesse," Caroline says, smiling at him. "But Stefan and I have a lot of catching up to do."

Caroline reaches out and grabs Stefan's hand, and she feels his grip tighten on hers in return. She leads him away, glancing back once to see him looking down at their entwined fingers with an odd expression on his face. Then he's looking at her, and that expression is gone.

Instead, he smiles at her. And it's breath taking.

"How do I not remember you?" he asks.

And that's when Caroline Forbes realizes she's screwed. Because this guy holding her hand? He looks like Stefan and he sounds like Stefan, but he doesn't have any of those old issues. To him, this is their first meeting. Only this time, he's not meeting desperate, neurotic human Caroline, but instead the girl she's become.

Caroline is screwed because Stefan doesn't remember that conversation from so long ago – _You. Me. Never gonna happen._ – instead, he sees the girl she's proud to have become, and Caroline recognizes that look in his eyes.

He's falling under her spell.

And Caroline knows she should put the kibosh on this, because Stefan and Elena? Epic!

Only… only Stefan is still _Stefan_, and Caroline realizes that she may have matured, she may no longer be a kiddie pool, she may have loved Tyler and been loved by Klaus, but those dreams of a June wedding?

Stefan is Stefan, and those dreams never quite went away.

And she's staring. She should turn away, or say something, but Stefan is smiling a little smile that she remembers seeing on his face in the forest when she was ranting about Matt and bambi – _so I'm a neurotic control freak on crack?_ – and it's so surreal to realize that this guy she has so much history with, who is one of her best friends, is charmed by her.

_Welcome to Wonderland, Alice. Hope you enjoy your stay._

"Uh… so, I'm Caroline. Which you apparently already knew, but still… Caroline. That's me," she says, hoping, and horribly failing, to hide the awkwardness she suddenly feels. Which is ridiculous, of course, because it's not like Caroline is _new_ to boys. She knows how to handle them, so why is this so weird?

_Maybe because those other boys weren't Stefan_.

"It's nice to meet you, Caroline. Again, I guess," Stefan replies, and he gives her hand a squeeze, which prompts Caroline to realize that their fingers are still entwined. She tries to loosen her grip, only Stefan's just tightens, and he smiles that charmed smile again. "But seriously, how do I not remember you?"

"Mind wipe from a two thousand year old witch," Caroline suggests dryly before she can think out her words. At first she worries about how Stefan might take that, but he just chuckles, and Caroline can feel herself relaxing.

"Yeah, I suppose that would do it," he agrees. "Damon told me we were friends. That you are the one who helps me with my… _issues_."

"Issues… _oh_, your _issues._ Yeah. I prefer to call myself your sober sponsor, to be honest," Caroline replies, and she relaxes more. This is familiar to her. She can handle helping Stefan with his blood addiction. _As long as he doesn't smile at her like-_

Stefan smiles down at her, and tugs her a little closer.

_That_.

And once again Caroline is out of her league. Because she doesn't know how to handle this flirty Stefan. It had always been Elena for him, only now he's looking at _her_ like that, and Caroline isn't entirely sure how to respond.

"I'm making you uncomfortable," Stefan says, the smile fading from his face, from his eyes.

"No," Caroline denies immediately, but Stefan's raised brow has the lie she was forming leaving her mind. This is Stefan. She doesn't lie to Stefan. "Yes. It's just… I… you're in love with Elena. You've _always_ been in love with Elena. So, the way you're looking at me? It's put me off my groove a little."

"I met Elena," Stefan replies. "And she's smart and pretty, and I've been told half a dozen times that I was in love with her. But when I looked at her? I saw a pretty girl with a nice smile who is dating my brother. No spark. No instantaneous connection. Then Damon sent me here, I think to get me away from Elena, but I can't read him well enough to be sure. So I came, and then I saw this beautiful blonde across a fire who matched the description of the girl who is supposedly my best friend, and she was smiling at this other guy. And I felt jealous… because your smile is beautiful, and I wanted it aimed at me. So the way I'm looking at you? I can't really help it."

Caroline is at a loss for words after that. She's always known that Stefan was good with words, but she never knew he could be so damn _smooth_.

"But you… Elena… you guys are supposedly like _destined_ or something. Epic love and all that. Plus, I tried the flirting thing with you once. It didn't really work out."

"I find that really hard to believe," Stefan replies, and he gives her hand another tug, pulling her even closer, so that there's only an inch or so of air between them. "I don't like to believe I was that stupid."

"I believe your exact words were that we were _never gonna happen_," Caroline replies dryly, but at Stefan's downcast look she feels the compulsion to elaborate. "Okay, in your defence I was a desperate twit back then with all the depth of a kiddie pool and I probably would've told myself the same thing. But still, it's been Elena from day one for you, Stefan."

"Elena is sleeping with my brother," Stefan points out. "And even without my memories of what transpired, I know I don't want to get involved in whatever _that_ was again. Whatever was between Elena and I doesn't change the fact that when I look at her now, I feel nothing. But you? I saw you, and I had to know you. Doesn't that count for anything?"

And Caroline keeps repeating to herself that she is well and truly screwed, because Stefan without his memories is _bold_, and rather than waiting for her reply, he's swooping down and kissing her. And that kiss?

It feels like coming home.

With Tyler, it was lust and teeth and desperation, because half the time he was gone and who knew how long it would be before he had to leave again.

With Klaus, it was the barest brush of his lips that set her nerve endings on fire. An inferno that terrified her with how easy it could consume her.

With Stefan? It's natural. It fits. She could stand here forever, kissing him and every time it would feel _right_.

"You feel like home," Stefan whispers, breaking away from her just enough so that he can form words, his lips brushing hers in the movement, and it's like he's read her mind.

"I think I broke a lot of girl code rules," Caroline admits, but she can't say that she feels guilty. She wants to, because loyalty to Elena says she should, but Stefan's arms feel too good, too right, and she can't muster up the guilt.

"Do you want me to walk away?"

Caroline knows this is reckless. That Stefan could wake up tomorrow, remember everything, and go running back to Elena, leaving Caroline cold and without even her best friend anymore. But something tells her that if she does this, if she steps recklessly into whatever it is that's simmering between her and Stefan, it could be become something wonderful

So she pulls him down to her again, pressing her lips to his.

This may be reckless, this may lead to heartbreak.

But right now, all it feels like is home.

**AN: And there it is. Like I said, Klaroline is my OTP, so I did have to add some little tidbits for it in there, but I figure that Steroline would be incredibly easy. They get along so well, that they would probably just fit. Plus, I'm sick of the triangle, so Delena and go off and do Delena things and the show can become the Stefan and Care Diaries (with guest appearances from Qetsiyah, who is awesome) and I would be happy.**


	10. History Repeating

**AN: An Elena-centric fic. Not her biggest fan these days, but I was once again listening to "She Always Gets What She Wants" by Emerson Drive, and it's apparently my new go-to for romantic angst, so this was born. It's pretty short and has no dialogue, but yeah… enjoy.**

**History Repeating**

She traces her tongue down his chest, and Damon is putty in her hands.

She smiles at Stefan, and he would give her the moon and the stars if she would just keep looking at him like that.

There isn't an ill intent in Elena's actions. In fact, she hardly even realizes what she's doing. She is with Damon, she loves Damon, and she believes she has made her choice and that she is happy with the brother she is with.

She tells herself that she goes to Tessa's cabin as a friend, that Stefan needs someone logical to guide him, because his actions? They're just so not him. She understands his anger, she's angry at Damon for what he's done as well, but throwing himself into danger to spite them? That's not healthy.

It doesn't cross her mind that perhaps she's just not used to him looking at her as anything other than perfect. That the Stefan she sees now, the Stefan without his memories, is a Stefan who is better off.

Elena simply doesn't know how to handle a Stefan who isn't in love with her.

She once accused him of treating her like a toy that needed to be fixed, but she fails to see that she's treating him even worse now. Because this toy? It's not even one she really wants. Stefan is a toy she discarded, and now only wants because he is in someone else's hands.

The problem with Elena Gilbert, you see, is that she's spent so many nights assuring herself of all the ways she is better than Katherine Pierce that she has failed to noticed how closely their lives are mirrored.

Tessa says the curse of the dopplegangers is to forever be drawn together, to forever love the same face. Tessa doesn't know as much as she believes.

The Petrova Doppleganger? Their curse is to forever walk down the path of self-destruction, and to never realize that's where they tread until their lives are gone, taking as many innocent victims in the fall as possible. The curse of the Petrovas is to forever think they know what they want, only to never be satisfied by what they have.

Elena and her Salvatores. Ping-ponging between brothers, choosing one only to be pulled back to the other as soon as they look at another. Losing her family one-by-one as she fights the righteous battle for a love she'll toss aside for another, or for a cure she'll force upon a woman who never wanted it.

Katherine and _her_ Salvatores… and her Mikaelsons… and a trail of broken hearts in her wake, because five hundred years is a long time, and Katherine never met a heart she couldn't break.

Tatia and her Mikaelsons, and a sword through her heart to save a family that would destroy _hers_ for centuries to come.

Even Amara, with her love for a man already taken and her desire for more than what a simple human life could give her. Now it's two thousand years later and she just wants to die, only that would be too easy. And Tessa doesn't want Amara to have easy.

There have been others through the centuries, each story as tragic as the one before. An endless cycle of love and pain and blame and tears.

It's a curse written in blood and centuries of heart ache; they will simply never be pleased until they've brought their world down upon their heads so they can play the victim in their tale of woe. It's so woven into the fabric of their being, into their genetic code, that they can't even be blamed for the disaster they bring anymore, because it's simply an inevitable eventuality.

So Elena will continue to kiss Damon and he will continue to be a slave to her whims. He will gleefully let her pull his world down on him, and when her destruction crushes him, hers will be the last name on his lips.

She will continue to smile at Stefan, and while he may not love her back right now, he will, because while the Petrova doppleganger is cursed to make the world burn, Silas' doppleganger is cursed to love the feel of the flames.

And Elena will continue to wreak havoc with her actions, and then turn around and look at the shambles around her and wonder _why me_? _Why am I cursed with so much pain_? Her friends and family, if any remain, will pat her on the back, will point their finger at whatever villain they feel deserves the blame (Klaus, Kol, Esther, Tessa, Silas, The Five… how many villains have there been?), and Elena will feel vindicated as she lays a rose on whatever grave is created next.

And history repeats.

**AN: Yeah… that's that. History just seems to keep repeating itself with these dopplegangers, so I figured why not make it a metaphorical curse? And so I did. **


	11. Mother

**AN: Inspired by a post on tumblr about Rebekah and how she most likely lacks maternal instincts. It also speculated that she likely killed several mothers in her time to steal their child. I thought on it, and thought it was actually pretty possible because Bekah's so desperate for a human life. Then this happened.**

**Mother**

The child is crying and Rebekah doesn't know what to do.

"Hush," she whispers, running a finger down the baby's cheek. "Hush now. I'm here. Everything is all right, I've got you."

She is doing everything she's seen other women do, everything she remembers her mother doing. She is soothing it, holding it, rocking it back and forth… so why won't it stop _crying_?

Rebekah looks around the blood spattered room. Perhaps it's the environment. She remembers overhearing once that the environment around a child was so very important. It must be the red. Surely, once she removes the child from all this red, it will be fine?

Rebekah hears clattering on the back steps, and she is gone from the house, the child in tow, before the maid's horrified screams begin to echo out from the house in the center of the town. Rebekah has taken the squire's child, of course she did, because she wants to raise a _lady_, not some filthy peasant.

She is removed from the house, from the blood and the gore and she thinks that now, surely now, the child will be at peace. It's so little, it can't possibly know what just occurred. It will grow knowing only Rebekah as its mother, and while Rebekah may not have the husband she wants, at least she will have _this_.

But even miles from the site of her crime, the child continues to wail and scream, and it's beginning to drive Rebekah mad.

"Hush," she says again, but this time it's more a cross between a yell and a growl, and the sound just makes the child cry more. "Oh, why won't you stop? Just stop crying. You're safe, I won't hurt you. Why won't you stop?"

The pleas for silence are punctuated with the slightest shake of the child. Just something to jolt some sense into the miniscule body… but Rebekah is a vampire. And vampires are strong, something that Rebekah always seems to forget in these early days of her cursed immortality.

She gets her silence, and the child's broken body in her hands sends her to her knees in tears.

"My God, Rebekah, what have you done?" It is Elijah's voice, and it is so filled with horror that Rebekah cannot look at her brother. Instead she holds the lifeless body of the childhood and brushes its hair away from its still face. All she wanted was a little girl. A little girl to spoil rotten and dress in pretty dresses and spoil as Rebekah had once been spoiled, before everything had changed and she had become a monster.

"I didn't mean to," she whispers and looks up at Elijah helplessly. Niklaus is behind him, but Nik is already embracing the monster within and so his face is passive, as if the child we merely a doll that Rebekah had played with too hard.

Perhaps, that is not too far off the mark of reality.

"I just wanted a child," Rebekah continues, pleading with her eyes for her noble elder brother to understand. "By now I should be married, I should have a child already. Even two. Is it so wrong to want that life? The life I was meant to have?"

Elijah just continues to look down on her with horror, but there is pity there as well. Rebekah knows what he sees; he sees a blonde monster in a ripped and blood soaked gown, blood still smeared across her lips, and a tiny, broken body gripped to her chest with far too much strength. She thinks that she must look mad, and then she supposes that she is. Mad and heartbroken over what she can no longer have.

"Come sister, let's go home," Elijah says, kneeling next to her and carefully removing the child's corpse from her arms. Rebekah feels as if she is a puppet with her strings cut, and she allows Elijah to support her, to move her away from the trees and the tiny little body. Niklaus doesn't say anything, but she will learn later that he stayed behind to bury the body before returning to their manor to pack and herd his siblings away from Rebekah's crime.

As for Rebekah, she will attempt this again. And again. She will try it so many times over the next century that Klaus (he is Nik no longer, all vestiges of her brother gone) will have to threaten her with a dagger and a coffin before she will cease. So Rebekah will turn her gaze from children to men, thinking that perhaps, if a child is not in her cards, she will instead have that husband.

And a thousand years later, when the wolf girl gives birth to a wolf girl of her own, Rebekah will not be allowed to hold her niece. Klaus, for all that he didn't seem to care at the time, will always remember Rebekah in that blood soaked dressed, tiny body in her arms, and any time she gets to near his own daughter, he will be there to ensure that infant's fate, and the fate of all those children that followed, will not be his daughter's.

**AN: And that's that. Yeah… I'll just leave it here.**


	12. First Kiss

**AN: One of the blogs I follow on tumblr described their ideal first kiss for Steroline and then sent out an open request for it to be written. So I did. And this is it. **

**First Kiss**

Caroline is the first one to notice how much he is suffering.

Elena is so busy trying to pretend he's okay, because otherwise she will feel guilt, and Elena simply doesn't want to feel guilty. Damon probably notices it, but he ignores it, because if he acknowledges something is wrong, then he knows Elena will feel guilty, and Damon doesn't want Elena to feel guilty about anything much less the younger brother she's supposedly destined for.

Stefan thinks that if that's the love he's destined for, he'd rather go back to being the Ripper, so he avoids Elena and Damon in the hopes they might catch a hint, and spends far more time with Caroline, so she is the one to notice how much he is suffering.

Stefan had thought he was doing an excellent job of hiding it, but then Caroline turns up on his doorstep with a pint of ice cream, three movies, each one more violent and action-filled than the last, and a determined smile that tells Stefan he might as well not even bother trying to send her away, because it won't happen.

So Stefan lets her in and watches _Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters_, eats half a pint of rocky road and wonders why he had ever considered sending her away in the first place.

It becomes a weekly event. Every Friday, Caroline drives back to Mystic Falls with a selection of movies and they watch and eat junk food, and for a few hours, it's as if the summer had never happened. It's as if Stefan hadn't spent three months drowning, as if his girlfriend hadn't left him for his brother, and all feels right in the world. After two months of watching movies and almost daily phone calls when it gets to be too much, Stefan begins to realize that he actually _is_ okay. Oh, he still has nightmares about drowning, but he doesn't have flashbacks in the middle of the street anymore. The calls, which had once been filled with him struggling to get everything out while Caroline tried to calm him down, start to become habit, an excuse just to hear her voice. He even stops avoiding Elena and Damon, because seeing them together no longer makes him want to rip his heart out of his chest. Oh, he's still hurt that his brother didn't notice his absence, but it's no longer about the girl, and instead simply because it's his brother and Damon should have noticed.

It's their Friday night movie night, and Caroline is hesitantly telling Stefan about how the newly turned Jesse has been asking her out and she's considering saying yes, when everything changes.

Because Caroline says the words: "I think I might be ready to move on, and he seems interested," and suddenly Stefan can't breathe. It's not because of a flashback, or Elena or Damon, but rather because Caroline is looking at him with those blue eyes of hers talking about another boy, and all Stefan wants to do is rip Jesse's heart out. The new vampire doesn't deserve her, he knows that instinctually, just like Tyler never deserved her. Caroline deserves so much more than _he seems interested_ and brief hook-ups as a boy passes through town before taking off on his next self-righteous mission. Caroline deserves the world, she deserves to be swept off her feet and to never be put down again.

Stefan could give her that.

The revelation knocks the air right out of his lungs, and that's why he suddenly can't breathe.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asks, her eyes shining with worry as she cuts off mid-Jesse story in favour of Stefan's well-being. Stefan wants to tell her everything he just realized. He wants to say that Jesse isn't good enough, but the words won't come out.

Because while Stefan realizes in that moment that he loves Caroline Forbes, he also realizes that she deserves more than a broken Ripper vampire who might be able to give the world, but who will always be a burden. Between bloodlust and PTSD, Stefan is simply not a good bet.

So, he distances himself. He watches her leave that night and swears to himself that he won't get in the way of Caroline's happiness. Jesse may not be good enough for her, but he could be good _for_ her, and as long as Caroline as happy, Stefan will be happy. Daily phone calls become weekly check-ins, because he can't bear to leave her completely; she's still his friend, for all that he wants more, but he keeps his distance.

Then he begins to come up with excuses to miss the Friday night movie nights, and that's when Caroline decides she needs to stage an intervention.

Oh, it's not dramatic with all their friends showing up. Instead, she comes on her own, _Finding Nemo_ in her hand and a stubborn look on her face. She takes the bourbon bottle he's been using as a security blanket since the night of his revelation away and stands in front of him with her patented _Fix-It Caroline_ look on her face.

"Okay, I don't know what happened, but we're fixing it. First off, no more alcohol. Next, we're watching a cartoon, because I have an obsession for them and this is one of my favorites. And once it's done, you're going to tell me what's wrong with you. No arguments."

Stefan doesn't offer any, and she puts on the movie and sits back, cuddling up next to him as she always did, right from the beginning, and Stefan can smell her scent – strawberries and the faint hint of hair spray – and it causes a pang in his heart, because Stefan has missed this. They have such an easy camaraderie, and even though he thinks it should feel awkward, he can't. it simply feels right, even if he is racking his brain for an excuse for his behaviour. He has over an hour before the movie is done, surely he can come up with a reason in that time?

It turns out he can't.

As soon as the credits start to roll, Caroline straightens up, and Stefan wants to pull her back, because his side feels empty and cold without her, but the look on her face says no-nonsense as she waits for him to speak. But Stefan doesn't have the words, because all excuses involving Damon and Elena and drowning go out the window as soon as she looks him in the eye.

"I can help you," she says, as if the problem is as easy as blood lust and a little torture will get rid of it.

And Stefan can't sit there anymore with her looking at him so he gets to his feet and turns away from her, his hand running through his hair in frustration. He wants to touch her, but he can't because she doesn't feel the same way, and who would have expected this to happen back when they first met and he had told her so seriously _you? Me? Never gonna happen._ Stefan wonders what his past self would say if he knew this is where they'd end up, in love with Caroline Forbes and yup, still never gonna happen.

Because she had grown and matured and become somebody he could love, but in the process she had gotten over that silly crush.

"You," he says after a long moment when he can't avoid the issue any longer. "You're the problem, Caroline."

"Me?" she demands, and she is so clearly insulted that Stefan has to chuckle a little bit. Because it's clear that she wasn't expecting _that_ answer, and Caroline has never liked being surprised… or insulted. "What on earth did I do? If you wanted me to back off or something, maybe you should have said so instead of going on a binge drinking bender. Me? Seriously!"

He can hear her get off the couch, but Stefan has taken the leap now, and he's not letting her walk out the door without telling her everything and letting what will happen just happen.

"What did you do?" He asks, flashing in front of her and halting her with his hands on her arms. She looks at him in surprise, and Stefan runs his hands up her arms until they're cupping her cheeks. "You did _everything_."

And then he kisses her.

She had made him watch all the cheesy 80 movies that talked about _the kiss_ and how it made fireworks appear, and Stefan had scoffed at them even as Caroline smacked his arm for his lack of romance, but now he thinks he gets it. Because kissing Caroline?

Fireworks appear.

It's perfect, and her lips are frozen at first, but then she responds. And _damn_ if Caroline Forbes isn't the best kisser he's ever encountered. After several minutes spent like this, she apparently comes back to herself, because she presses a hand to his chest and pulls back.

"What was that?" she asks, breathless and beautiful, and Stefan can't help but grin goofily down at her, feeling a little dreamy and a lot happy to have made her look like that.

"That was me fixing the problem," he replies running his hands through her hair and recalling a conversation he had overheard between her and Bonnie back when she was still a human. "Still want a June wedding?"

He knows it's cheesy, and that she's hardly going to answer in the affirmative, so he presses his lips to hers again, and he can feel the exact moment when she decides to stop worrying and just enjoy whatever this is. He also feels the grin on her lips against his, and he thinks that the moment is perfect.

There will be many less perfect moments in the future, and Stefan is still a PTSD suffering blood addict. He will never be a good bet. But right then?

Yeah, everything was perfect.

**AN: So sweet you got cavities, right? After the Rebekah one I wanted some fluff, and since I hadn't written any Steroline for a while I figured why not.**


End file.
